Summary

This is the fifth report on the Scottish greenhouse gas
emissions annual target required under section 33 of the Climate
Change (Scotland) Act 2009 ('the Act'), and relates to the 2014
target year. It also fulfils the requirement under section 38 of
the Act to report on the impact on emissions resulting from the
exercise of electricity generation related functions (see
Part
4).

For the purposes of this report, reporting requirements under
section 33 of the Act have been separated into four parts as
follows:

Part
2 of this report contains information on net Scottish
emissions. "Net Scottish emissions" are defined in the Act as the
amount of "Scottish emissions", reduced by the amount of "Scottish
removals" of a greenhouse gas.

"Scottish emissions" covers all emissions from sources
territorially located within Scotland, plus Scotland's share of
mobile transport emissions, including domestic and international
aviation and shipping.

"Scottish removals" refer to the removal of carbon dioxide from
the atmosphere by carbon sinks. Carbon sinks are defined by the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (
UNFCCC)
as "any process, activity or mechanism which removes a greenhouse
gas, an aerosol or a precursor of a greenhouse gas from the
atmosphere" - for instance woodlands.

In 2014, net Scottish emissions are estimated to have been
46,704,130
tCO
2e. This was 8.6 per cent lower than the 2013
figure of 51,121,730
tCO
2e, or a 4,417,600
tCO
2e decrease. Between 1990 and 2014, there was
a 39.5 per cent reduction in net Scottish emissions.

Achievement of Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions targets is
measured against the level of the net Scottish emissions account (
NSEA).
The
NSEA is
defined in the Act as the aggregate amount of "net Scottish
emissions" of greenhouse gases, reduced / increased by the amount
of carbon units credited to / debited from it in accordance with
the Carbon Accounting Scheme Regulations made under the Act.

There are two mechanisms by which carbon units can be credited
to / debited from the
NSEA.

i. As the result of the operation of the
EU Emissions Trading
System (
EUETS) in
Scotland. The details of this mechanism are set out in the Annex to
this report.

ii. Ministers may credit to the
NSEA any
international carbon units purchased by them, thereby offsetting
domestic emissions.

In 2014, 4,818,393 units were credited to the
NSEA as a
result of the operation of the
EUETS. No units
were credited to the
NSEA as a
result of the purchase by Ministers of international carbon units.
The
NSEA
figure was 41,885,736
tCO
2e. The fixed annual target for 2014, as set
by the Climate Change (Annual Targets) (Scotland) Order 2010, is to
reduce emissions to 46,958,000
tCO
2e. This means that the fixed annual target
for 2014 was met by 5,072,264
tCO
2e.

Based on the
NSEA,
Scotland's emissions fell by 12.5 per cent in 2014 on the previous
year. The longer term trend to date shows a reduction of 45.8 per
cent from the 1990/1995 baseline period. This means that the level
of Scotland's statutory 2020 target to reduce emissions by 42 per
cent from baseline levels has been exceeded, six years early.

Part
4 of this report shows that in 2014, gross electricity
consumption was 38,115
GWh. In 2014, Scottish
electricity generation was 49,929
GWh. In 2014, the average
greenhouse gas emissions per megawatt hour of electricity generated
is 196
gCO
2e/
kWh.

Section 38 of the Act is also reported on in this section. This
requires a report in respect of each year in the period 2010-2050
that, in so far as reasonably practicable, sets out the impact on
net Scottish emissions during that year resulting from the exercise
by the Scottish Ministers of the functions conferred on them by
virtue of any enactment relating to electricity generation.

In 2014, twenty projects in Scotland were consented after
consideration under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. Of
these, ten related to onshore wind projects (totalling 1,011
MW), eight offshore wind
projects (totalling 4,150
MW), one biomass project
(totalling 120
MW) and one thermal power plant
(120
MW). There were a further two
projects licensed by Marine Scotland (in addition to those licensed
under section 36 of the Electricity Act). These additional projects
were both tidal devices (totalling 0.53
MW).

Results of modelling suggest that these consented projects,
should they become operational, could reduce
GB system wide carbon
emissions by an estimated 6.5
MtCO
2 in the year 2022.